Microsoft Studios User Research Team Bios

Randy Pagulayan, Ph.D.
Group User Research Manager
Microsoft Studios
For more than 10 years, Randy Pagulayan has been involved with pioneering user testing methods in the entertainment space and currently manages the Games User Research team at Microsoft Game Studios (MGS). He is leading a staff of 40 people at the forefront of the next generation of user interactions by developing and defining best practices for gesture-based interactions for interactive entertainment experiences.

During his time at MGS, Randy has led user research efforts on numerous blockbuster video games and top tier franchises, including Top Spin, RalliSport Challenge, Age of Empires III, and Halo 2 & 3. He also has co-authored several book chapters on user-centered design in games and game testing methodologies, has given numerous talks and lectures internationally, and has been featured in a cover story in Wired (Halo 3: How Microsoft Labs Invented a New Science of Play, Sept, 2007) and interviewed on National Public Radio representing the work of his team.

Before joining Microsoft, Randy was part of the Human Factors & Ergonomics Group at Motorola, and has been published in several scientific journals, including Journal of Experimental Psychology, Brain Research Bulletin, and Human Movement Science. Randy has a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Maryland, and a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology from the University of Cincinnati.

Back to Top

Keith Steury, M.S.
User Research Manager
Microsoft Studios
Keith Steury joined the Games User Research Team in 2000 where he helped pioneer games user research through his work on Halo and other Xbox 1 launch titles.

In 2005, he followed his wife to Australia where he built the usability program for Australia’s largest telecommunications company and later started a new office for an Australian usability consulting firm. Missing games and the opportunity to work on cutting-edge technology, Keith was lured back to MGS in 2010.

Back to Top

Chuck Harrison, M.A; MBA
Business Research Lead
Microsoft Studios
Chuck Harrison is a Lead joining the group in 2005. During his MGS tenure, Chuck has helped ship some of Xbox Live Arcade’s most successful titles, some web-based games, and retail hits such as Halo Wars, Alan Wake and Joy Ride for Kinect. Chuck’s team is currently working on a wide variety of games from upcoming Windows-based releases, the next round of XBLA hits, major franchises like Gears of War, and some exciting new Kinect titles.

Chuck has over 15 years of user research experience ranging from consumer products to back office and business applications. Before joining Microsoft, Chuck worked at several other high tech companies such as Siebel, BMC, Intel, & Netscape (in the early 90's). Over the years, Chuck has presented research at several HCI and game related conferences and has published researched focused articles and book chapters. Chuck has a BS in Human Factors from the University of Idaho, an MA in Engineering Psychology from New Mexico State University and an MBA from the University of Houston.

In his off hours, Chuck spends his time with his wife and four boys running, snowboarding, coaching youth wrestling and football, playing various team sports, and of course – “researching” games.

Back to Top

Tracey Sellar
User Research Lead
Microsoft Studios
Tracey Sellar is a User Research Lead at Microsoft Game Studios, managing research efforts for internal UK studios, and external development partners. Her team has recently worked on Fable III, Crackdown 2, Kinect Sports, and other Kinect products. Before joining Microsoft, Tracey was the founder and Director of the User Experience Lab - a games usability consultancy based in New Zealand. She has worked on game titles across a variety of platforms, including console, PC, handheld, and mobile.

In addition to games, Tracey has conducted user research on a range of products including websites, productivity software, videoconferencing systems, and large interactive display technologies. Prior to getting into technology, she ran a dance company, worked as a professional dancer, and held various roles in the arts industry.

Tracey has completed three years of her PhD, exploring new research strategies and methods for evaluating game user experience. She also holds a Bachelor of Business (Honors) in Information Technology, a Diploma in Contemporary Dance, and a Black Tab in Karate. In her spare time, she collects mid-century modern furniture and contemporary art, and enjoys painting and boxing.

Back to Top

Daniel V. Gunn, Ph.D.
User Research Ops Lead
Microsoft Studios
Daniel V. Gunn is a User Research Engineer within the User Research Group at Microsoft Game Studios and has been an avid gamer for the past 29 years. Prior to joining the group, he taught college courses for over seven years on subjects including Research Methods in Psychology, Psychology of Learning, Physiological Psychology, and Statistics. Daniel received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology with an emphasis in Human Factors from the University of Cincinnati (UC) in 2002.

During his graduate tenure at UC, he worked as a statistics consultant for the College of Nursing and as a research scientist within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Human Effectiveness Directorate. While working at AFRL, Daniel conducted Human Factors research in the RAIVE lab (Research on Adaptive Interfaces for Virtual Environments) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Daniel has presented at several Human Factors related conferences and has published in the American Journal of Psychology as well as Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. In addition, some of his past work can be seen in the Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aviation Psychology and the Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. Daniel’s research expertise and interests include: human visual perception, sustained attention, attention and time-sharing, integrated multisensory displays (visual, spatial audio, and haptic), and applied statistics. His work at MGS has been on the Forza Motorsport series as well as some PC titles such as Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends and Viva Piñata PC.

Daniel’s favorite foods have remained relatively stable over the past 3 decades: pizza, macaroni and cheese, and ice cream. In his spare time, he enjoys hanging out with his wife and two sons, playing his guitar, playing games, and watching movies.

Back to Top

Tim Nichols, Ph.D.
User Research Lead
Microsoft Studios
Tim joined the group in early 2006. Recent product work includes Kinectimals and Dance Central, with side projects on art style preference and gesture-based UI. What else do you want to know about Tim? Well, he hasn’t cleaned his office since the Bush administration. Recent finds include a pocket ashtray from Muji, a DVD labeled “EMPTY,” and a box of Timbits. An empty box. Also, he got his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech.

Back to Top

Eric Schuh, Ph.C.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Interested in games ever since a square white ball bleeped and blooped across his screen in the early 70’s, Eric has been a member of the Games User Research team since 2002. In that time, he’s worked on the Halo, Fable, PGR, and Forza franchises, among others.

Eric has been doing user research on how people use technology since 1993, working on projects as varied as MSN, Access, printers, and network administration tools. Not a bad career for a guy who almost, but not quite, got his PhD from the University of Washington in social psychology.

Back to Top

Carl Anselmi
User Research Labs Ops PM
Microsoft Studios
Carl Anselmi has been part of the User Research lab team at Microsoft since 1996 playing a primary role in the operations and support of these Research labs. He joined the Microsoft Games Studios in 2002 to specifically support the Games User Research labs and has been involved in managing this lab ever since. In 2008, he officially joined the GUR team to manage the lab business as well as build out of the new GUR testing facilities on the Studios West campus.

His responsibilities continue to revolve around adapting and improving this core business and managing the support teams needed to complete testing done by the Games User Research team.

Back to Top

Michael Medlock, M.A
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Michael Medlock is a Senior User Research Engineer in the MGS User Research team. He has thirteen years of industry experience in the field of Human Computer Interaction. During that time he’s worked on many successful Xbox and PC games such as Project Gotham Racing, Age of Empires II, Dungeon Siege, Crimson Skies, Flight Simulator and Top Spin. He has also worked on Windows Phone 6.0 – 7.0, Internet Explorer, and internal HR business systems for Microsoft.

He has documented and evangelized the Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation method (RITE) which is used throughout Microsoft and is currently being taught in a number of HCI programs around the world.

Back to Top

Tom Fuller
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Tom Fuller has been working in the MGS User Research team since 2000, where he has provided support for dozens of games and services for a variety of platforms including PC, Xbox, Xbox Live Arcade, Mobile, and Windows Live Messenger. The majority of Tom’s work is on broad-appeal, music, and social games. He currently supports Lips franchise on the Xbox 360 and is working on gesture based interfaces and game prototypes for Kinect.

Prior to working at MGS, Tom was a research associate at UCLA, where he supported research and development of behavioral skills training and software solutions for treatment planning, and diagnostic interview tools. He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in from University of the Pacific, focusing on experimental psychology and behavior analysis. In his spare time enjoys digital photography, record collecting, contemporary art, and volunteers as a docent for the Microsoft Art Collection.

Back to Top

Jerome Hagen
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Jerome Hagen is a User Research Engineer with Microsoft Game Studios and has been working in games user research since 1998. He’s worked on several franchises including Fable, Project Gotham Racing, and Crackdown. Jerome’s most recent projects include Fable III and Crackdown 2.

Back to Top

Bruce Phillips, Ph.D.
User Research Analyst
Microsoft Studios
Bruce joined the Microsoft Game Studios User Research group in 2001 and has worked on a wide variety of games, including Mech Assault, Voodoo Vince, and Halo: Reach. Bruce recently moved into a full-time analyst role helping to define the next generation of analytic-based entertainment research.

Back to Top

David Quiroz, M.Ed
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
David Quiroz is a User Research Engineer for Microsoft Game Studios, where he provides consumer based research on PC and console games. The user research team is recognized as a leader both in innovative methods and for playing a pivotal role in the success of many of Microsoft's popular games. David has worked in the user research team for over six years and has worked on games for the original Xbox and Xbox 360 and is currently working on the Rare™ Studio title called Kinect Sports. He is an avid First Person Shooter gamer and is currently playing Call of Duty 4 on Xbox Live (PC) under the alias "shiv3r." Besides video games, David enjoys playing ultimate Frisbee, cycling, frequenting the gym, and looking for buried gold.

David holds a Masters in Educational Psychology from the University of Washington and has been published in the Journal of School Psychology. Past research activities have included a meta-analysis of interventions to decrease disruptive behaviors in the classroom and various studies to help diagnose and treat reading related disabilities.

Back to Top

Kevin Goebel
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
In his role as User Research Engineer with Microsoft Game Studios, Kevin Goebel supports in-development games, through consumer research, with the goal of evaluating and improving the entire gameplay experience. Previous to Microsoft, Kevin accumulated a rich and varied experience in user-centered design by virtue of his work on consumer home productivity applications at SierraHome and web-delivered business applications at Expeditors.

With over 7 years of involvement in the Games User Research group, he has had the privilege of contributing to the success of many Microsoft titles for PC, Xbox, Xbox 360 – and now, Kinect! Aside from games (his favorite being Spades, with bemo bidding), his interests include music, aquaria, speculative fiction, and backyard culinary arts.

Back to Top

JJ Guajardo, Ph.D.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
JJ Guajardo is a User Research Engineer with 9 years of industry experience. He has worked on a wide variety of products including Xbox games, Encarta and other learning products, Office for Mac, ERP software, and Windows.

While at Microsoft, JJ spent 2+ years in Copenhagen, Denmark, conducting research in Western and Central Europe, before returning to the US to work in Redmond.

Back to Top

Sarah Walter, Ph.D.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Sarah joined the Games User Research group in 2010, after completing her PhD at Stanford in the field of Learning Sciences and Technology Design. Her dissertation work included raiding in an MMO for way too many hours, and analyzing collaboration within the raid team and guild. She has particular interests around education for computational thinking, creating games that females enjoy, collaboration, and qualitative research methods.

She has consulted in user research, worked in video game production, and was a UX designer for a large Internet company back at the turn of the century. She holds a BS in Cognitive Science from UCLA. Her favorite games include Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Halo co-op campaign, 1990s adventure games, and any board games she can convince her friends to play. In her free time, she would like to be traveling around the globe, reading, frolicking with friends and her mutt, learning, and finding a good sunshine beer spot.

Back to Top

Mathias Fleck, Ph.D.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Mat joined the User Research team at Microsoft Game Studios in 2010 after completing a Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke. His research at Duke focused on reducing errors in visual search tasks such as radiology, airport baggage screening, and roadside bomb detection, and this work was supported through collaborations with the Army Research Office, Duke Radiology, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Prior to graduate school, he co-founded an indie game development company. He received a B.A. in Psychology in his hometown at the University of Chicago. Mat loves: video games, foosball, poker, racquetball, board games, wallyball, and kittens.

Back to Top

Andrew Mayer, M.S.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Andrew was in the middle of his PhD studies at the University of Calgary when he decided on a new path and joined the Games User Research Group in 2010. He received his BA in psychology from the University of Calgary and his Master’s degree from Georgia Tech.
Andrew has conducted research on human-automation interaction, cognitive aging, driver distraction, and healthcare human factors.
When he isn’t playing video games, he likes to spend his time traveling and enjoying the great outdoors.

Back to Top

Deborah Hendersen, Ph.D.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Deborah is interested in what people do with their minds for fun, which for her falls into two general categories: narratives & gaming. She earned a BA at Reed College after waiting till the last possible second to declare for Psychology (rather than English), swayed by the thrill of falsifiability. She then moved to Stanford University where she earned a PhD in Cognitive Psychology, asking such questions as: Does it matter if the book you are reading is fiction or nonfiction? (Yes.) Why don’t adults have imaginary friends? (Never mind, they do.) And, why are kids afraid of monsters under the bed, even when they know they are imaginary? (A lack of inhibitory control.) Deborah is a voracious reader and will read anything you suggest at least once (assuming she’s not busy raiding).

Back to Top

Kristie J. Fisher, Ph.D.
User Researcher
Microsoft Studios
Kristie is a recent PhD graduate in cognitive science from the University of Washington and the newest member of the Studios User Research team. The research she did while in graduate school used brain electrophysiology to study mathematical reasoning. She's also spent some time at Microsoft Research using a variety of methods to analyze people's experience with online social media. Though she loves living in Seattle, she's a southern girl at heart and is proud to have received her BS degree in applied psychology at Georgia Tech! She will kick your butt in any Kinect game challenge (particularly if it involves dancing) and loves to spend what little free time she has running, traveling, camping, reading, cooking, and baking pies.

Back to Top

© 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.
Last Updated: May 24 2011